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Our medical travel insurance customers will be surprised to learn that according to a recent report by a flight comparison web site, the airlines we would class as “budget” generally end up costing more than mainstream carriers.

For the report, prices from 10 airlines over four popular routes for a family of four, including two adults, a child and an infant (under two) where analysed.  It was found that once essentials to a family holiday were added, such as luggage, pram/buggy storage or sitting next to each other on the flight, the costs with the budget carriers increased dramatically.

From our customer research we know that many of our travel insurance with medical conditions customers do opt to fly with the no frills airlines wrongly believing that they offer the best value for money.  However this report has shown that the increase from the advertised fare on the budget airlines to the price actually payable can be as high as 195%, whereas the increase on a mainstream carrier’s price is around the 22% mark.  Furthermore, the study found that once all the extras were included the mainstream carriers in general worked out about £87 cheaper than the budget carriers.

So when checking prices of flights don’t go on the advertised price to work out the best price, you need to go through the full quote including all the extras then compare your results to see who does offer the best value.

I have always found budget carriers offer the best value if you use them like a bus, i.e. be prepared not to get the best seat, possibly be separated from your travelling companions and travel light.  However once you start travelling with children and all the paraphernalia that that involves then the budget carriers just don’t work and it is mainstream for me all the way.

posted by Insurance With Blog at 08:13 0 Comments

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The Eurozone is in turmoil, Spain has had to offer a bailout loan to its fourth largest bank.  In Italy police have raided one of their largest banks over alleged insider trading and Greece has failed to form a government for the third day running.  All this has sent the Euro spiralling down, which is good news for our medical travel insurance customers holidaying in the Eurozone this summer as the Pound (GBP) is now at a 3 year high against the Euro.

Despite the UK being in what many are calling a double dip recession, it is still seen as a safer bet than other economies, which is why we are getting more for the GBP abroad.   The tourist rate for the Euro is currently €1.20 for every GBP.  Therefore if you change up £500 you will now receive an extra €52 of holiday cash, the last time it was this high was November 2008.

It’s not just the Euro that’s weak against the GBP; the American Dollar has also been falling against the GBP since the beginning of the year, a GBP will now buy you $1.60.  Although the GBP has been much stronger against these currencies in the past, this latest gain will help to make holiday money go further, especially important as family incomes are being pushed hard.

For our travel insurance with medical conditions customers not going away until later in the year, we suggest you keep a close eye on the rates, some commentators are suggesting that the GBP could get even stronger, giving you even more holiday spending money.

posted by Insurance With Blog at 06:59 0 Comments

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Any of our medical conditions travel insurance customers planning a bucket and spade holiday in the UK this summer will be interested in the latest Good Beach Guide compiled by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS).

The sea water tests were carried out last summer and although 25 beaches have failed to reach mandatory levels of water cleanliness, the guide reports that 516 out of 754 UK beaches were recommended for ‘excellent’ water quality.  This is an 8% rise on last year’s figure and the best set of results in the 25 years of the guide. 

The guide does stress that encouraging as these figures are, there is still a lot of work to be done to maintain these results and hopefully keep on improving on them.  Furthermore with the first measurements being taken this summer under new, more stringent European Union water quality rules set for 2015, the MCS is warning authorities against resting on their laurels over improving standards.

These figures are promising and will hopefully encourage more people to holiday in the UK, now all we need to do is work out how to stop all this torrential rain so we can enjoy the UK beaches!

posted by Insurance With Blog at 06:53 0 Comments

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A recent survey by Macmillan Cancer Support will alarm many of our cancer travel insurance customers.  Macmillan surveyed 1500 women, and astonishingly 22% of those surveyed admitted that they did not wear sun cream when on holiday in a hot country.

According to Macmillan’s web site over 2500 people die of skin cancer every year, so this issue is very real.  Many of our travel insurance with cancer cover customers will be aware of the risks of sunburn; however we would like to remind our medical travel insurance customers of the importance of sun safety.   We are not suggesting you sit indoors or completely cover up when outside.  Sunshine is good for us, it provides our body with vitamin D, but take care, the sun particularly abroad car burn your skin very quickly, and this is type of skin damage that could increase your risk of developing skin cancer.

To stay safe in the sun, always wear sunscreen with a minimum sun protection factor (spf) 30 and apply generously and regularly, on sunny days try and stay in the shade between 11am and 3pm when the sun is at its hottest and most dangerous.  With babies and young children, keep them out of direct sunlight and make sure they wear a minimum of 50 spf sunscreen, even in the shade.

It’s lovely to see the sun and it makes us all feel better, and by following the above advice and that on The BritishAssociation of Dermatologists web site we can all enjoy it safely.

posted by Insurance With Blog at 07:55 0 Comments

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The above head line caught my eye and no doubt the eye of many of our breast cancer travel insurance customers.  When I was diagnosed with breast cancer I spent days trawling the internet looking for reasons why, and from what I could see nearly everything in our modern world had the propensity to give you cancer, but some people got it and some didn’t, I guess I was just one of the unlucky ones.  However the link to alcohol consumption and breast cancer seems to be getting stronger.

New research by scientists in Mexico has identified a protein that plays a key role in the link between drinking alcohol and breast cancer.  The research shows that women with higher levels of the molecule in their breasts are more likely to develop cancer if they drink too much.  The protein is an enzyme called CYP2E1, and is believed to be involved in breaking down ethanol/alcohol in the body.

I am not saying that my past alcohol consumption is the reason I got cancer, but I do find this research very interesting and another step forward to finding a cure or a way to prevent this awful disease. 

Pre cancer I led a pretty healthily life, I drank, obviously, but not to excess, I always tried, and still do, to have at least two days a week off the booze, but I did, still do enjoy drinking.  And despite this research, I have no intention of going teetotal as I have yet to see any research that shows stopping drinking alcohol altogether will reduce my chances of getting breast cancer again.  However I do believe everything in moderation!

posted by Insurance With Blog at 10:02 0 Comments

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If only it was showers, the UK is now on flood alert! The Environment Agency has issued eight flood warnings today and a further 21 lower level flood alerts.  And with the UK’s monsoon-like weather predicted to stay until well into May, many of our medical conditions travel insurance customers are looking to book holidays abroad to catch some sunshine.

It would appear that it isn’t just our travel insurance with medical conditions customers that are flooding abroad because of the weather.  It would also seem that UK tour operators are seeing a surge in bookings since all the rain started as well. Virgin Atlantic has reported an increase in bookings of 37% compared to this time last year, and unsurprisingly the most popular destinations are the sunnier ones!

Even if April is recorded to be the wettest on record, the water companies are adamant that the hosepipe bans put in place last month will not be lifted.  The water company bosses believe these downpours are not enough to end the official drought brought on by two dry winters.  Unfortunately because of the prolonged dry weather the ground is very dry and therefore the amount of rain we are experiencing is not getting a chance to soak in, it tends to sit on the surface which causes flooding, hence all the flood alerts.  The hosepipe ban may still be in force despite all this rain, but at least the water butts will be full again so hopefully the gardens will still get the water they desperately need this summer.

posted by Insurance With Blog at 04:54 0 Comments

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Sunday 22^nd April will see the streets of London flooded with people dressed up in all manner of outfits for the 32^nd London Marathon.  The London Marathon began in 1981 and since then the runners have raised well over £500 million for good causes.

With the recession still biting hard and with no sign of it getting better anytime soon, the importance of this level of fundraising cannot be ignored.  Charitable giving received a huge knock in the Budget with the cap on tax relief for donations, which will have a big affect on the amount of philanthropic giving.  Therefore the money raised on Sunday will have an even bigger hole to fill.  We mustn’t forget the role charities play in our modern society; they pick up the slack from the over-stretched NHS and offer a sympathetic ear to millions of people up and down the country on a daily basis.

Everyone has different reasons for supporting charities, and at Insurancewith we support charities such as Fighting All Cancers Together (FACT) and the Genetic Alliance UK because they offer us guidance and support on a range of medical conditions. We want to fully understand their members' conditions so we can offer relevant medical screening for all our customers, which in turn enables us to offer far more competitive medical conditions travel insurance.  Furthermore, with guidance from charities we have also developed specific cancer travel insurance and travel insurance for diabetes policies, which is why £1 from every Insurancewith travel insurance policy sold is donated to charity.

Now more than ever we need to support charities in any way we can, be it having a charity cake sale or quiz night to sponsoring someone to run the marathon, or even running the marathon yourself! So please support where you can, I know what I will be doing.... yes that’s right, buying cakes and sponsoring someone else to do the running.

posted by Insurance With Blog at 09:19 0 Comments